Aviva Life Insurance to send young scholars to Oxford

As part of the 'Aviva Young Scholar Hunt', five winners will be flown to the UK to visit the Oxford University where they will also meet the brand's ambassador Sachin Tendulkar.

Insurance provider Aviva Life Insurance has launched a nationwide contest titled 'Aviva Young Scholar Hunt', in association with the kid's channel Pogo. This year, the nationwide initiative will give five winners an opportunity to meet Sachin Tendulkar in the UK, and visit the prestigious Oxford University with their parents.

Incidentally, the 'Aviva Young Scholar Hunt' is in its third year. It was launched in 2009, and was a nationwide hunt, in association with NatGeo, while in its second year in 2010, along with Hindustan Times, the contest was held only in Delhi.

Now in its third year, the contest has gone national with a bang, and has tied up with the kids channel Pogo.

The contest is essentially based on an experiment conducted by Prateek Sethi, who hosts the popular show 'F.A.Q' on Pogo. Children can either view this experiment online, or on-ground, and answer some simple questions and write a slogan.

To participate online, children need to log on to www.pogo.tv or www.avivaindia.com. On-ground, students from approximately 120 schools in Delhi, Bengaluru and Mumbai will get an opportunity to participate through an activation programme. The contest is open for children in the age-group of 8 to 14 years.

The campaign, which has just started will go on for eight weeks before the winners being announced. The final winners will be selected by an eminent jury from the field of media and advertising.

There are also different levels of gratification to this contest, where in addition to the grand prize of the UK trip, 20 children will also receive scholarships of Rs 25,000 each, and another 4,000 will get Sachin Tendulkar-branded merchandise.

Talking about the initiative, Gaurav Rajput, director, marketing, Aviva India, says, "We believe that 'Education is Insurance', and have been launching initiatives that are focussed on helping children realise their dreams, whether through insurance products, Aviva Street to School initiative, or scholarships for bright young minds."

He adds that the Aviva Young Scholar Hunt is a step in the same direction. Through this initiative, they aim to not only provide kids a platform to showcase their intelligence and creativity, but also want them to aspire for a brighter future.

On why they chose to take children to Oxford University, Rajput shares that an Aviva Young Scholar's Hunt Insight Study was conducted amongst parents, where it emerged that what parents want most for their children is a good education, and also to study abroad. Thus, Oxford University works as a motivation for children.

The contest is being promoted via television -- specifically the Pogo channel, online and BTL awareness.

With a special focus on education, Aviva has in the past also done activations such as the 'Aviva Great Wall of Education', a book donation drive for underprivileged children on National Education Day. As part of Aviva's Street to School programme, books from the wall were used to educate thousands of underprivileged children, supported by Save the Children India, an independent organisation working to ensure the rights of children in India.

Aviva Life Insurance has also sponsored the Bookaroo Children's Literature Festival, and also organised a music workshop for school students with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.